Razer, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, software and systems, today announced the release of the Razer Tartarus, a membrane gaming keypad created with ergonomic comfort and infinite customization options.

Successor to the widely popular and award-winning Razer Nostromo, the Razer Tartarus features an increasingly comfortable form factor and 25 programmable keys including an eight-way directional thumb pad. The thumb pad allows gamers to move with more precision, while also acting as modifier keys, multiplying the keyset count by eight, providing 128 different command options.

With unlimited macro lengths and unlimited game profiles, the Razer Tartarus also provides users instantaneous switching between eight key maps. The Razer Tartarus features full anti-ghosting, with backlit keys that give users total control in dark conditions.

"The Razer Tartarus places an infinite amount of control into a single hand-literally-affording immense flexibility, power and an ultimately free other hand, which is a deadly competitive advantage," says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. "For serious gamers, this keypad can make the difference between victory and defeat."

The Razer Tartarus is enabled to be configured with Razer Synapse 2.0, the proprietary software that functions as the brain of the keypad. Razer Synapse 2.0 allows users of Razer products to save custom profiles and sync them from anywhere in the world through the cloud system to be accessed from any computer anytime, anywhere.

About the Razer Tartarus expert gaming keypad
Control an infinite number of commands at your fingertips with the Razer Tartarus expert gaming keypad, featuring 25 membrane keys including a programmable eight-way thumb-pad. The Razer Tartarus is designed to deliver absolute comfort during extended play with an adjustable soft-touch wrist pad. Use Razer Synapse 2.0 to save your custom settings and update from anywhere in the world.

I don't see what the issue is. 15+8+2=25. The 8-way thumb thing can be mapped to different keys/macros for each of the 8 directions so it's essentially 8 separate buttons.

I owned an n52te when I played games on my old laptop because it let me play without rubbing the touchpad all the time and messing with my mouse. One thing I loved is that it had a scroll wheel with a middle click that I could map as volume up/down and click to mute. The newer Razer gamepads can't do this in Synapse. I still have my old n52te attached to my desktop just for the volume wheel. I'm looking forward to snagging Corsair's K70 with brown switches as it has a volume wheel above the number pad.